12 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



sounding bells is heard coming up the road that winds 

 along the lake ! There in front a stately cow advances, 

 her horns adorned with a large wreath of beautiful 

 flowers, — roses, dahlias, erica, and evergreens. Above her 

 head towers a pile of festoons and garlands ; and within 

 an arch of flowers and foliage is a bright crown of tinsel, 

 and below it in the same shining material a large C. It 

 is the cattle of his Royal Highness Prince Charles of 

 Bavaria returning for the winter from the mountain pas- 

 turage. They are splendid animals of the Altgau breed ; 

 short-legged, full-uddered, and with dewlaps like the 

 Colchian bulls. Many are the bells they wear, — long- 

 broad bells, of sweetly sonorous metal, fastened round 

 their strong necks by a thick strap of leather. But the 

 foremost one has alone the coronal : she is to walk first, 

 nor would she let one of the others pass her on any ac- 

 count whatever. She maintains her place in front as re- 

 solutely as I have known une Dame du palais insist upon 

 having the pas when other ladies were present ; and she 

 heads the procession with a sturdy air, and a look of in- 

 effable contempt for all going on around. Nor is it mere 

 fancy that she is proud of her pre-eminence ; she knows 

 as well as you do that she is to be first; and she deserves 

 her rank, for in truth she is a splendid creature. And 

 behind comes the tall herdsman, his hat more than 

 usually gay with flowers, and with a tuft of fine yellow 

 feathery grass, that looks not unlike the plumage of the 

 bird of paradise. How proudly he walks behind his 

 troop, while the gardens that border the road are filled 

 with gazers ; and further on, the Queen and her ladies 

 are waiting to see the cattle returning home to the valley. 

 He looks calmly about him, but greets no one : he feels 

 that today he is the principal personage ; he is celebrating 

 his triumph. I would fain wager though, when he sees 



